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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28510710">Stay With Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AfricanSpaceQueen/pseuds/AfricanSpaceQueen'>AfricanSpaceQueen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Crying Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), F/M, Hange Zoë &amp; Levi Are Best Friends, Hange being a mom, Levi needs a break, Sad Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Soft Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:08:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,278</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28510710</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AfricanSpaceQueen/pseuds/AfricanSpaceQueen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hanji comforts Levi after the failure of the 57th expedition.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Levi/Hange Zoë</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>132</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Stay With Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first Levi and Hanji fic. I hope you enjoy it!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>    The expedition was a total failure. Everything went wrong in a matter of seconds, so many soldiers dead and more soldiers traumatized. It didn’t help that the moment they came back to the wall they were met with an angry crowd of civilians, demanding to know if their sons and daughters died in vain, people who would never know the horrors of coming face to face with titans. That evening the survey corps headquarters were eerily silent, everyone still coming to terms with what happened and the soldiers they lost. Hanji knows that Levi lost his entire squad, something that has never happened to him. The special operation squad was no more. She knows that Levi likes to be left alone to make sense of his thoughts when they become too much for him but Hanji knows Levi better than most people.</p><p>     Hanji gives Levi’s door a couple of knocks before slowly opening the door to his dimly lit room. She sees him sitting at his desk with his head glancing down at nothing, bangs shielding his eyes. He doesn’t bother looking up to see who it is, knowing that only Hanji would come by. Closing the door behind her she walks over to Levi and places a hand on his shoulder. Under normal circumstances Levi would have pushed her hand away and muttered something along the lines of “Shitty glasses stop touching me” but right now he wants her touch more than anything else. He wants reassurance that everything will be okay.</p><p>     “Levi…how are you?” Hanji asks him quietly. It’s probably a dumb question to ask. The man has lost his entire squad and even if he’s good at showing everyone else around him that he seems okay, Hanji knows that he’s not. Levi makes no move to answer. Hanji kneels so that both of their heads are at the same height and as she peers into his face, she can see that those scary silver-grey eyes that she has come to love, are filled with tears threatening to spill. She grabs him by the shoulder and has him sit in her lap before embracing him, his head resting beneath her chin.</p><p>     It only takes a few moments before Hanji feels her shirt becoming damp with tears and the quiet room and sobs begin to fill the room. She rubs her hand on his back the way that a mother does with an infant. It reminds Levi of the way his mother used to embrace and comfort him when he was a child and she was still healthy and alive.</p><p>     “They’re dead,” Levi shakily says tears rolling down his cheek. “All of them are dead and I couldn’t save them.” He’s clutching onto Hanji’s shirt so hard that Hanji is sure the shirt may rip.</p><p>    “And then I told the soldiers to abandon the bodies…and when I turned around, I saw Petra’s face.” At this point he’s heaving, and Hanji is surprised that he can even get words out of his mouth. She continues to hold him and rub his back for him, pressing her lips to his head. “And then we got back to the walls and her father approached me and the man looked so happy to talk to me and asked about his daughter and-“ Levi lifts his head up to look at Hanji’s face staring into her brown eyes. “Damn it Hanji I didn’t have the guts to tell the man that his daughter died under my watch.” Levi closes his eyes as he sobs again and Hanji doesn’t have any words, she doubts that anything she says will help him at this moment. The only thing Hanji does is rub his back and rock him back and forth and mutters little “It’s alright Levi” although she doesn’t even know if she can trust her own words. Eventually his sobs turn into little whimpers and when Hanji glances at the man in her arms her eyes soften, because right now he doesn’t look like “Humanity’s Strongest” he looks boyish almost, the way he’s clutching onto her as if she’ll disappear any moment.</p><p>     “Don’t go…Hanji please don’t leave” Levi whispers. “I don’t know what I’d do if you were gone…so please just do whatever you can to stay alive.” Hanji gives him a small smile and kisses the top of his head and tilts his chin upwards so that she can look at him properly. The skin around his eyes are swollen and red, he looks exhausted, and it’s strange that these tears reveal that his silver-grey irises are a beautiful bold blue.</p><p>     “Well I can’t make promises but I’m here with you and I’ll be with you as long as I’m still around,” she tells him softly. “Would you like some tea? Would that help?”</p><p>     Levi shakes his head and rests his head on her shoulder. “Just stay here please.”</p><p>     “We can’t stay on the floor forever would you like to move over to your bed?” She feels him nod and lifts the man up, allowing Levi to lean on her while she guides him over to his bed. She sits him down and works to remove his shoes but pauses when he gives a slight hiss when she tries removing his left shoe.</p><p>     “I injured my leg during the expedition,” he says quietly. Hanji can see that his ankle is swollen and winces slightly.</p><p>     “I’ll go and grab my first aid kit.” As she makes her way to leave Levi’s side, he grabs her wrist.</p><p>     “Levi? What’s wrong? I’ll be-“</p><p>     “Don’t leave.” He knows he probably sounds pathetic and looks pathetic, but he doesn’t want her to leave him, even if it’s for five seconds. He needs her, he doesn’t want to be left alone.</p><p>     “Levi your ankle, it needs-“</p><p>     “I don’t care. Hanji just stay here with me.” Hanji looks at Levi who isn’t looking at her, but is staring at his feet, bangs covering his eyes. She sighs and sits next to him, pulling him into her chest. He instantly relaxes and snuggles against her, breathing in her scent. He notes that she smells good for once and that she most likely bathed before coming to see him.</p><p>     They stay like that for what feels like hours before he finds himself getting tired but he doesn’t want to close his eyes, because he feels like if he does he’ll see the haunted faces of his deceased squad members staring at him. Wherever they are they probably hate him, he thinks to himself. They probably hate him because he wasn’t there to save them, the way a proper captain should. It’s all his fault, he thinks to himself. If he had been there, he probably could have saved them all, and Petra’s father would still be able to see his daughter again, and Eld, Gunther, and Olou’s families would have their sons. A soft hand on his cheek brings him out of his depressing thoughts.</p><p>     “Relax, I can feel you tensing up,” Hanji tells him. He sighs and closes his eyes, resting his head on Hanji’s lap, and moving his legs on the bed to stretch out, grunting at the pain in his left leg.</p><p>     “Can we just stay like this?” he asks. “Can you stay with me tonight?” Hanji smiles at him and runs her fingers through his black hair.</p><p>     When morning comes and he groggily opens his eyes he finds himself staring at Hanji’s sleeping face, and pushes himself closer into her chest. I still have her, he thinks to himself. And he would try his hardest to cherish these moments and keep her safe.</p>
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